CURE CARIBE

Sunday, January 11, 2015

It was a balmy January afternoon 5 years ago (January 12)
when the world lost contact with Port au Prince.For me it started out as just another day in
Santo Domingo with a seemingly unremarkable earthquake on my way home from work.

Yesterday in the late afternoon as I looked over the
peaceful parking lot in front of Hôpital Adventiste I thought back on the
hundreds of injured victims who poured through the front gate of the hospital
with life threatening injuries.People
were laying everywhere interspersed with a few dead bodies.Some had mattresses pulled off of beds in the
hospital but most were just on cardboard or nothing at all.A tent was created out of some tarps in the
front yard where wound debridements and amputations were performed while
aftershocks continued to shake the building.Both local and international volunteers soon began to arrive and do what
they could to help.Initially it was
difficult to triage, organize and prioritize, but in reality it was not long
before this hospital became a veritable beehive of activity and developed a strong
national reputation for orthopaedic surgery.An unprecedented amount of donor support brought in the materials and
expertise needed to maintain the hospital.Patients were coming from near and far.Many with medical issues long pre dating the earthquake.Operations were offered for free to all
comers.

This was the honeymoon of a mission hospital program - the
beginning of a long-term relationship. It was not just a one-night stand of
volunteer passion that would leave Haiti in a lurch and justify the American
dream for those who came to help.As
with any relationship it has not always been smooth sailing, but in spite of
its struggles the romance continues to motivate us.We are committed for the long term and great
effort is required in order to successfully face the realities of financial
viability, communication, and oneness of purpose.

It can be discouraging to face the literal and figurative
piles of stuff and issues around here but it is all worth it when we remember
the real reasons we are here.

Chadme a 15 year old girl who was in a wheelchair due to severe knock knees caused by rickets

Julie a 15 year old girl with post traumatic deformity from earthquake fracture before and after correction with TSF

Kenn a 8 year old boy with L tibia bone deficit due to osteomyelitis. He has had a bone transport procedure to grow 2 inches of new bone and dock the nonunion site while correcting the deformity.

Nelson operating in the provisional operating room. Yes we spent Saturday night cleaning up the mess in the foreground.

Elaine Lewis surgical tech and mother of 7 from Redlands who will be living at HAH with her husband for the next 6 months and organizing our operating room.

The new operating room. Finish date TBD. Container with equipment is still in the port

Monday, September 15, 2014

Dr. Francel Alexis Chief of Orthopaedics at HAH pauses with patient before surgery

Islande is an 8 year old girl with an enlarged left upper
extremity. She has macrodactyly that
caused her middle and ring finger to be grotesquely enlarged requiring amputation of these digits at a
young age. She came to Adventist Hospital
with her mother for further treatment of the deformity because they heard that
there were some doctors that may be able to help her. She said the first surgery was done in Cap
Haitien by a surgeon named Nelson in 2009.
At first I did not recognize her but after a brief search of my database
I found her pre operative images. This
again was a reminder of how sparse the resources are for these patients, how
diligent they are in travelling to various parts of the country to look for
help, and how important it is for us to make long term commitments in order to
build a reputation worthy of the God we serve.

Islande 2009 in Cap Haitien

Islande 2014 HAH

A brief update on the hospital and construction is
warranted:

Edward Martin was inaugurated last week as the
hospital CEO after the resignation of Mdme. Clotaire.He is taking on the daunting responsibility
of creating a financially solvent institution, which requires a major
downsizing of staff and the development of some new and innovative business
plans.While paradoxically not loosing
the priority of providing top quality care to those who cannot afford it.

Operating room construction is progressing well
and the new facility looks beautiful.Staff will scarcely recognize the layout of the new operating rooms,
recovery room and ancillary areas.

The new lab is also well on its way to
completion and will drastically elevate the level of services offered at the
hospital and the perceptions that build our reputation.

We were able to perform the same quality and
complexity of operations in the provisional operating room in spite of power
outages, C-arm malfunctions and an occasional stray fly.

Operating by flashlight in the provisional operating room

There were many dramatic cases this week – each with stories
to tell.Kenn a crippled 7 year old boy with part of his tibia missing from infection was sent by a 16 year old American girl who raised $3000 to have his leg fixed. Julie who is a 13 year old girl had her right
leg injured in the 2010 earthquake causing a partial growth arrest and subsequent
development of a severe knock knee deformity.
Marie is a 28 year old women who had a developmental bowed leg since
a very young age. And Phanord a 10 year old boy with a type of dwarfism that causes knock knees. Each of these people
who took just a few hours of our time this week have started down a dramatic
pathway of healing that will change their lives. We must remember that it is
not our own power that is creating this miracle of healing. A common thread to all major world religions
is the importance of compassion to our fellow man and the acknowledgement of
something greater than self. It is a
privilege to be a part of something much greater than ourselves – the God of
our fathers and Creator of the universe.
It is also a privilege to be part of a group of people that have
contributed so generously to this work in Haiti. This trip was largely funded by the Foundation for Orthopaedic Trauma www.fotnorthamerica.org. We are grateful for the generosity of this group which makes a huge difference in the lives of each of these children that have been operated. It also helps us to direct additional funds into the much needed capital expense projects.

Kenn before and after surgery. This bone transport procedure will take 47 days to correct the deformity and begin filling in bone which will then consolidate over the next several months.

Icons on the computer programmed prescription show before and after images

Marie before and after surgery for her L tibia Blount's. This case not amenable to acute corrections is treated with Taylor Spatial Frames which operate on the principle of gradual distraction.This device is adjusted on a daily basis by the patients which allows for extremely precise corrections and less operative morbidity due to minimally invasive surgery. It will take 44 days to straighten her leg.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Major changes are taking place at HAH with renovation of the
operating room suite and installation of a new laboratory.I travelled this past weekend with Ken
Breyer, Assistant VP for Construction and Planning at LLU to assess the progress
of the project.We arrived at 9 am on
Friday morning after an all night voyage from Los Angeles.The progress that has been made is remarkable
and the quality of workmanship is impressive. We spent the entire day going over each detail
of the plans with the construction foreman.A multi faceted team coordinated
by Ken has lent expertise in the design and engineering of every detail.Although the complexity of the project has
progressively increased, as well as the time and resources required to complete
it; the final results will be worth the extra efforts.

Originally I had envisioned moving a wall or two, repainting
and resurfacing the floor.With the
intention to create a first rate facility some additional expertise was
consulted and it became evident that a more sophisticated plan would be
worthwhile.Additional storage, larger
operating rooms, replacement of entire electrical system, too much to list new
pieces of equipment, HVAC design with positive pressure airflow, plumbing
changes, new lighting, shelving, new doors, central distribution of medical
gases and other details have been added.

Francel and the workers have created a provisional OR suite in the previous emergency room which is quite adequate to handle a variety of cases.

Volunteer surgical teams are anxious to know when the
project will be completed.I won’t
guarantee any completion dates but the first construction phase will likely be
wrapping up in about one month.At least
two months will be required for the remaining acquisition and shipping of
equipment in a container from Loma Linda.Installation of fixtures, furnishings and special equipment will then
likely require another two months.Best
case scenario currently puts us well into July.

Haiti

Cure Dominicana

Cure International

CURE International transforms the lives of disabled children and their families in the developing world through medical and spiritual healing, serving all by establishing specialty teaching hospitals, building partnerships, and advocating for these children.